‘Napoles most guilty, not credible as witness’

Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles is free to provide new information regarding her case, but as far as Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and other lawmakers are concerned, she is not qualified to become a state witness for apparently being the most guilty in perpetrating the anomaly.

Malacañang, through presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr., distanced itself from the issue, saying it has nothing to do with placing her under the government’s witness protection program (WPP).

Pimentel and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the law creating the WPP under the Department of Justice is clear that a potential state witness should not appear to be the most guilty and must have credibility.

Looking back at the pork barrel scam case, Pimentel noted how the evidence backed the allegation that Napoles masterminded the anomaly.

“Who was found to have several properties? Who was it that profited significantly from this? They are the most guilty or at least one of the most guilty parties. So for me, she cannot be discharged as a state witness,” Pimentel said in an interview over radio dwIZ.

Pimentel also aired his doubts over new contributions Napoles could make as far as the scam is concerned and possibly absolve her as mastermind of the anomalous transactions.

Lagman said people who could be placed under the WPP “must not only seek security but must qualify as a state witness.”

“Since Napoles is indicted as the brains in various plunder cases consequent to the pork barrel scam, she does not qualify to become a state witness,” Lagman stressed.

“Under any standard, the brains and instigator who plotted and executed the crime is the most guilty,” Lagman added.

Like a karaoke singer

Sen. Leila de Lima, who was secretary of justice when Napoles was charged in the pork barrel scam case, said she expects the administration to use Napoles to testify against the opposition in exchange for keeping her loot and maintaining her daughter’s extravagant lifestyle, free of taxes.

“Napoles is no different from a karaoke club regular. She will sing anything she is asked to. This is why she was never seriously considered as a state witness by the Aquino administration,” De Lima said.

“Her first question to us then was, ‘Sino ba ang gusto ninyong isama (Who do you want to implicate)?’ It became clear to us then that just like any thief, Napoles will say anything to get herself off the hook. She is indeed the ideal witness for a crooked administration, to use against its critics and vocal dissenters,” De Lima added.

But De Lima noted there is a problem in the alleged scheme the administration is eyeing using Napoles – her plunder case is being prosecuted by the Office of the Ombudsman, not the DOJ.

She said DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II would most likely exert pressure on the Office of the Special Prosecutor under the ombudsman to drop Napoles from the list of the accused and make her a state witness.

De Lima explained that unlike the deputy ombudsman, the special prosecutor is under the disciplinary authority of the President.

“Malacañang can easily undermine the special prosecutor’s independent judgment in this case and force him to drop Napoles as an accused,” De Lima said.

“But then again the next problem here is that Napoles would have to be a state witness against Duterte allies,” De Lima said, referring to former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Napoles’ co-accused in the plunder cases pending trial at the Sandiganbayan.

“This goes against the very purpose of Aguirre and Malacañang in making Napoles a state witness, which is to implicate opposition legislators and personalities in the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel) scam,” she added.

Pimentel also said he would not buy the argument that Napoles may not be the mastermind of the scam and might have learned it from someone else.

“Whose name was repeatedly mentioned (in the scam)? Who created those foundations? This has been said repeatedly so you can’t say that you are not the most guilty,” he added.

Pimentel said Napoles is free to identify more personalities that she dealt with but she cannot be absolved because she is the mastermind.

“It is as if you are saying that she will give up the names of all those she convinced to join her plan and then she will be set free. Is that fair?” Pimentel said. “No deals,” he stressed. Pimentel said he intends to invite Aguirre to explain why Napoles was being considered as a state witness.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI) chairman Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos also questioned the sincerity of Napoles to share information about graft and corruption in government.

“If she really wanted to help she should (have) right from start (revealed) everything. Hiding something undermines her sincerity. For that she loses her moral credibility,” Santos said.

“How can a mother and mastermind of all scams be given provisional witness protection? What she did was theft on the largest scale. There was graft and corruption, conspiracy to steal people’s money and because of her many people suffered, especially the poor,” Santos said.

Weapon inst the opposition

Members of the political opposition have raised their concerns about how Napoles could be used by the administration to harass them.

However, Sen. Francis Escudero told members of the opposition that that if their hands are clean then they have nothing to fear at all.

Escudero said he is interested to find out what Napoles has to offer in terms of new testimony on the pork barrel scam that would make her qualify for the WPP, specifically the personalities that she would name.

Escudero has long been pushing for a probe to be conducted on the non-government organizations that were found to have been used as conduits to funnel pork barrel funds of legislators, apart from those involving Napoles.

He noted that only P6 billion of the pork barrel funds went to the NGOs created by Napoles but the total anomalous transactions uncovered by the Commission on Audit was around P14 billion.

Aside from Enrile, Estrada and Revilla, a number of former legislators were charged based on the investigations conducted on the pork barrel scam involving Napoles.

While it has long been accepted that Napoles was the mastermind of the scam, Escudero said that it would be interesting to find out the people behind the other NGOs.

Escudero, who said that he was also among those initially implicated in one of the affidavits prepared by Napoles in the past, said there is a possibility that Napoles may have just learned about how to go about exploiting the pork barrel funds of legislators from someone else, which she could reveal now in her new affidavit.

Waste of funds

Lagman said the Duterte administration should prosecute Napoles instead of having taxpayers spend for her security, protection and benefits like comfortable housing, living allowances and medical expenses as state witness.

Lagman and Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said the decision of Aguirre to get the principal accused in the “mother of all scams” as a state witness is a mockery of the justice system and Duterte’s anti-corruption campaign.

He reminded Aguirre that aside from the expenditures to be incurred for placing Napoles under the WPP, it would also entitle her to immunity from prosecution “for the very offenses she herself hatched and instigated.”

Napoles would likewise be released from her prison cell at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig “to a housing facility secured by the government with all the amenities of freedom,” he said.

“It is of no moment that the admission of Napoles into the WPP is categorized as ‘provisional’ since all admissions are provisional because a witness is supposed to comply with conditions to remain under the program,” Lagman said.

Duterte won’t intervene

Roque said Duterte will not intervene in whatever is happening in departments, “otherwise he will have no more time to lead the country.”

Roque also said there were processes to be followed before Napoles could be made state witness, including the assessment of whether she was the most guilty or not.

“So let us see, there are talks that there was someone who taught Napoles, who ordered her…let us see if there are really higher officials who have bigger responsibility than… Napoles,” Roque said.

Roque clarified Napoles is not yet accepted as state witness but only under protective custody while her affidavit is being reviewed.

Napoles is held at Camp Bagong Diwa together with lawyer Jesicca Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, chief of staff of Enrile.

Like Napoles, Reyes and Enrile are charged with plunder for the former senator’s alleged misuse of his pork barrel funds, which ended up in Napoles’ bogus foundations.

De Jesus said the administration “has spared Napoles from conviction by making her a state witness.”

“This plot twist enhances the climate of impunity favorable to thieves and plunderers, and undermines President Duterte’s supposed conviction to put crooks behind bars,” De Jesus said.

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